Page 10 of Maneater
Something flashes in her eyes, and then she moves, dipping under my arm, smiling, and pulling open the door for good this time.
“Then it sounds like you’re too busy for a woman like me. Thanks again.”
And then she’s gone.
I stand there in shock for long moments before coming to my senses. I’m already annoyed when I answer my phone and sit down in Dante’s chair. But when I finally take a moment to look at the screen of my phone, I realize it’s not Sutton calling. Instead, it’s the emergency line for the resorts. My stomach drops as I tap the screen to answer and bring it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hi, Mr. Fisher, I’m so sorry to bother you,” the voice on the other end of the line says, clearly a bit panicked. “But there’s been an accident at the resort, and they’re starting to worry the employees.” My heart drops.
“A fire?” I ask when Annette picks up thirty minutes later. It’s long past her bedtime, I’m sure, but I used my own emergency line to call her, and considering it sounds like she’s been keeping things from me, I’m not in the mood for niceties. “And an allergic reaction?” I expect some stuttering or lies or, at the very least, an apology for keeping this vital information from me, but I don’t get that at all.
Instead, the CEO of Daydream Resorts and my mentor, Annette Rhodes, sighs. “Let me guess: Chris called you.”
Chris, the manager of the East Coast locations, did, in fact, call me.
“Well, you sure as fuck weren’t going to,” I say, driving far too fast to my place. I closed my tab quickly upon leaving the office, knowing I needed to get home and pack.
“I’ve got it covered, Rowan.”
There’s exhaustion in her voice, confirming that she was in fact asleep or close to it when I called, butI really don’t care. I held off on calling her until I got the full picture, texting or calling everyone at the impacted location I had contacts for, only to find the situation is way worse than I thought.
“Do you? Because from what I’m hearing, there have been no less than four incidents in the last three weeks, and the most recent was an allergic reaction at the spa that required hospitalization two days ago.”
A small gasp comes from the other end of the line. “What?”
“Oh, I guess you haven’t heard that one,” I say with a laugh lacking humor. “I called Jonas, and he told me all about it. I’m gladsomeonedecided I should be in on this.” Jonas, the head of security, is the only person I personally vetted and hired. When I got in contact with him, he told me there have been multiple issues at the Keys location, not just this fire. “He also told me when he called to tell you he was worried something nefarious was happening that you told him not to worry you with it, and you’d handle it.”
That was the most infuriating part of the call—that whatever was happening had been a known issue, and Annette had intentionally excluded me from it.
She lets out a deep sigh before responding to my accusation.
“You’re working on the opening for Malibu. This wasn’t vital. I’ve got it covered.”
I groan, knowing that’s not the case. I love Annette, but she constantly works with abest-case-scenariomindset, rather than a realistic one.
“How? How do you have this covered?”
“I’ve hired an outside investigation party to do some digging. I have full confidence that in the next two weeks, we’ll find the source of this and resolve it.”
She must be referring to Wilde Security, the company that established our security and safety procedures for each resort, ensuring that our elite and celebrity clientele receive the most confidential experience, if that’s what they desire.
Her solution does appease me. A bit.
“In the meantime, Daniel has been instructed to talk to eachdepartment about any oddities that may have been occurring so we can get a better idea of the span of this.” Daniel is the general manager of the Keys location, and although he isn’t my biggest fan, I can’t say he isn’t good at this job.
“I’m still headed there,” I say, putting my car into park and swinging the door open before heading to the elevator that will take me to my penthouse overlooking Hudson City.
“It’s not necessary, Rowan.”
“You’re the one who taught me there is no better way to keep track of things than by having boots on the ground. I’m going, even if it’s just to oversee things for a bit. I’ll work from the office there.”
“You’re supposed to be on vacation next week,” she says. I almost forgot that she had forced me to agree to taking the week off next week, stating that she was worried I would burn myself out if I didn’t slow down. That won’t be happening any longer.
“Vacations can wait.”
There’s a long pause and another sigh before she speaks, and before she even does, I know what she’s going to say.
“Rowan, we need to talk about your incessant working.”
